It’s CFL mini-camp season, which means most teams are heading south to get away from the last few cool days of our Canadian winter to get a jump on the 2014 campaign.

Since the players’ association four years ago allowed teams to conduct off-season mini-camps, general managers have gone about them differently. Once in a while the whole team is there, often it’s only rookies and negotiation list players, and other times it is somewhere in between. Attendance for veterans is voluntary.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are holding their mini-camp this weekend in Bradenton, Fla., at IMG Academy, and it’ll be much different than the one they conducted last year. Thanks to all the veteran off-season additions and assistant coaching changes last off-season, the Riders decided to gather the entire team in Florida.

You can’t say it didn’t work, either, as the Riders went on to win the Grey Cup on their own field eight months later.

“It was quite the financial impact last year, but we figured with the new staff and basically a new team almost again, we needed to do that to get everybody on the same page and ahead of the curve,” Riders general manager Brendan Taman said this week.

“This year is a little different. We do have some holes, but we’re obviously going to replace them more so with younger guys than CFL vets. It’s sort of a change in a philosophy a little bit.”

Last year there were 80 players at Saskatchewan’s camp; this year there will be between 55 and 60, and they will belong to one of three groups: rookies, negotiation listers or free agents. Veteran quarterbacks Darian Durant and Tino Sunseri will also be in attendance, but neither is expected to throw any passes.

The mini-campers will meet on Friday, have two practices Saturday and then another one Sunday morning before heading for home.

“You can do a little bit more than what we’re doing, but there’s only so much you can do,” Taman said. “We’re not putting in our offence or defence. We’re just running basic stuff just to see how they perform. After three practices of that, I don’t think three to five’s going to make that much difference.”

The Bombers have brought veterans and rookies alike to Winnipeg the last three Aprils, but this year they’re going to Florida and inviting mostly only rookies and negotiation list players along with their quarterbacks. Most of the other teams are doing the same.

“I don’t need to see vets,” one CFL executive said.

Not every organization conducts a mini-camp, either. The Lions, for example, are having a free agent camp in Florida on Sunday and a throwing camp in Vancouver in late April.

HOG WILD

In case you missed it earlier in the week, new CFL Players’ Association elected Montreal Alouettes right guard Scott Flory as its new president, replacing Mike Morreale.

Jay McNeil returns as first vice-president, and Ottawa RedBlacks centre Marwan Hage does the same as second VP. Two additions to the executive are Toronto’s Jeff Keeping and Edmonton’s Brian Ramsay.

If you’re wondering what those five players have in common, they’re all current or former Canadian offensive linemen. That had at least one league executive guessing this week that the CFLPA will be pushing hard for shorter practices in training camp that include less hitting and more sessions without pads.

The next round of talks is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday.

TRES BIEN

This year’s Canadian Football Hall of Fame induction weekend will be held in Montreal for the first time, which is the perfect location for Ben Cahoon, Wally Buono and Uzooma Okeke to be honoured.

The induction weekend will be held on Sept. 20 and 21, and the other inductees are Maurice Racine, Charles Roberts, Larry Haylor and Neil Lumsden.

The hall of famers will be honoured at half-time of Montreal’s game against Calgary on Sept. 21.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Linebacker Marcus Ball, whom the Argos released in February to allow him to pursue an NFL contract, has signed a three-year deal with the New Orleans Saints … The B.C. Lions gave a contract extension to running back Andrew Harris on Wednesday, and they announced they’re working on extending defensive back Ryan Phillips and defensive end Chris Wilson as well … The Bombers have brought back Bob Wylie as their offensive line coach. He was in the same role in Winnipeg during the 2007 and 2008 seasons … The Ottawa RedBlacks added some experience to their linebacking corps on Thursday, adding Anton McKenzie to their training camp roster. The Lions released McKenzie last week after finding no trading partners interested in swinging a deal … Speaking of the Lions, left tackle Ben Archibald announced his retirement from the CFL last week … In an effort to allow as many residents of Saskatchewan to see them, the Roughriders will conduct their training camp in Saskatoon for the next two years. They held their camp at the University of Saskatchewan last year, too, and it worked out pretty well for them at the end of the year … The RedBlacks have sold 14,000 season tickets for their inaugural season, and more than 17.500 people have already scooped up tickets for the home-opener on July 18 against the Argos.